# Oleh Protasov

Oleh Valeriyovych Protasov (Ukrainian: Олег Валерійович Протасов; born 4 February 1964) is a Ukrainian and Soviet former footballer who played as a striker. He was a key member of the Soviet Union national team throughout the 1980s; his 28 goals for the Soviet Union are second in the team's history, behind Oleg Blokhin's 42. It should be considered that his first name is often spelled as Oleg on most of international rosters, particularly during his playing career.

## Club career

Oleh Protasov started playing football at the age of 8 years old in his hometown of Dnipropetrovsk in Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, where he played until 1987. In 1987, Protasov moved to play for the Soviet-Ukrainian football giants, Dynamo Kyiv. In all, in the Soviet Union, he won the Soviet Championship twice and was named Soviet Footballer of the Year in 1987. He scored 125 goals in the Soviet Championship, making him the 8th best scorer of all-time of the Championship.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Oleh Protasov got a chance to play abroad. In 1990, he joined Greek side Olympiacos Piraeus. Leaving Olympiacos in 1994, he played in Gamba Osaka, Veria FC, and finally Proodeftiki FC, from where he retired in 1999.

## International career

Protasov played for the Soviet Union 68 times, including at the 1986 and 1990 FIFA World Cups, as well as Euro 88, where he scored two goals. He also played one game for the Ukraine national team, in 1994.
In 1983, Protasov took part in the Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, representing the Ukrainian SSR.

## Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Protasov went into coaching, and led Olympiacos Piraeus to the Greek title in 2003. In 2005, he coached Romanian team Steaua București.

### Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

In December 2005, Oleh Protasov returned in Ukraine to coach his hometown team, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, after an impressive UEFA Cup performance with Steaua București. Protasov left by his own choice and was on very good terms with the entire team and owners of the club.
In his first 2005–06 season as Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk's coach, Oleh Protasov led the team to a 6th-place finish in the Ukrainian Premier League. In the next, 2006–07 season, Protasov improved on this, finishing 4th in the league.
In the 2007–08 season his side unexpectedly led the title race ahead of the winter break, before a poor second half left his side in 4th once again. Dnipro sacked him on 29 August 2008 after an embarrassing defeat from AC Bellinzona in UEFA cup qualification match.

### Kuban Krasnodar

After that, Protasov took over FC Kuban Krasnodar in the nearby region of Russia. Kuban had been recently relegated to the Russian First League. Under Protasov's leadership, the club finished 2nd in the league, with an 8-point lead over their nearest competitors. This finish earned them right to be promoted to the Russian Premier League.
However FC Kuban was hard-hit by the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, which greatly decreased the club's budget. In a mutual agreement with the club, Protasov left the club on 19 November 2008.

### Iraklis Thessaloniki

Then, he signed a two-year deal worth 400,000 euro per year with Iraklis Thessaloniki, starting from the summer of 2009. On 30 October, it was announced by Iraklis F.C. the termination of their contract, after 5 continual defeats in Super League and Greek Cup.

### Astra Giurgiu

On 13 October 2014, Oleg became manager of FC Astra Giurgiu. He was sacked on 2 March 2015.

### Aris Thessaloniki

Protasov agreed on a three years contract with Aris Thessaloniki, though Arvanitidis expulsion as head of the football department of the club, led to amateur Aris to terminate the deal after 15 minutes of its announcement.

## Personal life

Protasov is married to Natalia (née – Lemeshko), a daughter of Yevhen Lemeshko. He is a naturalised citizen of Greece and is able to speak Greek, alongside English, Russian and his native Ukrainian.

## Career statistics
### Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :
| Club | Season | League | League | Cup | Cup | Continental | Continental | Total | Total |
| Club | Season | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 1982 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 1983 | 21 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 7 |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 1984 | 34 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 42 | 19 |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 1985 | 33 | 35 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 41 | 40 |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 1986 | 23 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 18 |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 1987 | 30 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 21 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 1988 | 29 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 13 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 1989 | 26 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 10 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 1990 | 16 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 13 |
| Olympiacos | 1990–91 | 29 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 12 |
| Olympiacos | 1991–92 | 21 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 18 |
| Olympiacos | 1992–93 | 24 | 14 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 37 | 18 |
| Olympiacos | 1993–94 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 9 |
| Gamba Osaka | 1994 | 27 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 34 | 15 |
| Gamba Osaka | 1995 | 28 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 13 |
| Veria | 1997 | 30 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 5 |
| Veria | 1998 | 32 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 7 |
| Proodeftiki | 1998 | 28 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 5 |
| Career total | Career total | 444 | 213 | 53 | 25 | 25 | 6 | 522 | 244 |

### International

Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Soviet Union | 1984 | 5 | 2 |
| Soviet Union | 1985 | 12 | 8 |
| Soviet Union | 1986 | 3 | 0 |
| Soviet Union | 1987 | 9 | 2 |
| Soviet Union | 1988 | 18 | 10 |
| Soviet Union | 1989 | 8 | 3 |
| Soviet Union | 1990 | 11 | 3 |
| Soviet Union | 1991 | 2 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 68 | 29 |
| Ukraine | 1994 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 1 | 0 |
    Scores and results list the Soviet Union's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Protasov goal.
List of international goals scored by Oleh Protasov :
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 15 May 1984 | Kouvolan keskuskenttä, Kouvola, Finland | Finland | 3–1 | 3–1 | Friendly |
| 2 | 2 June 1984 | Wembley Stadium (1923), London, England | England | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 3 | 28 January 1985 | Maharaja College Stadium, Kochi, India | Iran | 2–0 | 2–0 | Nehru Cup 1985 |
| 4 | 27 March 1985 | Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi, Soviet Union | Austria | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 5 | 2 May 1985 | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union | Switzerland | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1986 World Cup qualification |
| 6 | 2 May 1985 | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union | Switzerland | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1986 World Cup qualification |
| 7 | 5 June 1985 | Idrætsparken, Copenhagen, Denmark | Denmark | 1–2 | 2–4 | 1986 World Cup qualification |
| 8 | 7 August 1985 | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union | Romania | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 9 | 25 September 1985 | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union | Denmark | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1986 World Cup qualification |
| 10 | 16 October 1985 | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union | Republic of Ireland | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1986 World Cup qualification |
| 11 | 23 September 1987 | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union | Greece | 2–0 | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 12 | 28 October 1987 | Lokomotiv Stadium (Tavriya), Simferopol, Soviet Union | Iceland | 2–0 | 2–0 | Euro 1988 qualifying |
| 13 | 23 March 1988 | Olympic Stadium (Athens), Athens, Greece | Greece | 1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
| 14 | 23 March 1988 | Olympic Stadium (Athens), Athens, Greece | Greece | 3–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
| 15 | 23 March 1988 | Olympic Stadium (Athens), Athens, Greece | Greece | 4–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
| 16 | 31 March 1988 | Olympic Stadium (Berlin), Berlin, West Germany | Argentina | 3–1 | 4–2 | Four Nations Tournament |
| 17 | 31 March 1988 | Olympic Stadium (Berlin), Berlin, West Germany | Argentina | 4–2 | 4–2 | Four Nations Tournament |
| 18 | 27 April 1988 | Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava, Czechoslovakia | Czechoslovakia | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 19 | 1 June 1988 | Lokomotiv Stadium (Moscow), Moscow, Soviet Union | Poland | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 20 | 15 June 1988 | AWD-Arena, Hanover, West Germany | Republic of Ireland | 1–1 | 1–1 | Euro 1988 Group Stage |
| 21 | 22 June 1988 | Neckarstadion, Stuttgart, West Germany | Italy | 2–0 | 2–0 | Euro 1988 Semi-finals |
| 22 | 27 November 1988 | Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait | Kuwait | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 23 | 26 April 1989 | Olimpiysky National Sports Complex, Kyiv, Soviet Union | East Germany | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1990 World Cup qualification |
| 24 | 15 November 1989 | Lokomotiv Stadium (Tavriya), Simferopol, Soviet Union | Turkey | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1990 World Cup qualification |
| 25 | 15 November 1989 | Lokomotiv Stadium (Tavriya), Simferopol, Soviet Union | Turkey | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1990 World Cup qualification |
| 26 | 24 February 1990 | Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto, United States of America | United States | 3–1 | 3–1 | Friendly |
| 27 | 28 March 1990 | Olimpiysky National Sports Complex, Kyiv, Soviet Union | Netherlands | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 28 | 18 June 1990 | Stadio San Nicola, Bari, Italy | Cameroon | 1–0 | 4–0 | World Cup 1990 Group Stage |
| 29 | 13 November 1991 | GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus | Cyprus | 1–0 | 3–0 | Euro 1992 qualifying |

## Honours

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
* Soviet Top League: 1983
* USSR Federation Cup: 1986
Dynamo Kyiv
* Soviet Top League: 1990
* Soviet Cup: 1989–90
Olympiacos
* Greek Cup: 1991–92
* Greek Super Cup: 1992
Soviet Union
* UEFA European Championship runner-up: 1988
Individual
* ADN Eastern European Footballer of the Season: 1985
* Soviet Footballer of the Year: 1987
* Soviet Top League top scorer: 1985, 1987, 1990
* UEFA Silver Boot: 1984
* Gazeta Sporturilor Romania Coach of the Year: 2005